During February 2015, Delta Psi submitted its response to address more than 50 topics containing more than 150 pages of application for the RPI Five Star Standards Accreditation and Awards of Excellence 2014. In the past our chapter has received very good ratings. This self-evaluation by Delta Psi is great insight to fraternal life at 58 Pinewoods. We expect another outstanding rating from the RPI Greek Life office.
The RPI Office of Greek Life, in concert with Greek alums, established this process to ensure that chapters are well rounded and understand the complexity of activities they need to be engaged in to be successful as fraternities and sororities. The submissions receive points for the various categories and then end up with a rating from one to five starts, with five being the highest. Like the Sigma Chi Peterson award for chapter excellence, there is no limit to the number of Five Star chapters on campus; however, one is selected as the top fraternity and sorority on campus and awarded the President’s Cup. In addition, a panel of alums, university administrators and a few students review the submissions and select individual award winners for each of the categories (sections). Winners are announced at an awards ceremony on April 25.
An incredible amount of work went into compiling this information and many, many hours went into the editing, layout and presentation. Former Consul Oskari Rautiainen, Former Pro Consul Chris Higley (who was just installed this week as Consul), Scholarship Chair Evan Kaiser and Awards Chair Matt Rettig spent countless hours collecting information, putting it in a readable format and proof reading the submission again and again. The end product is material which can be used to transition new officers, provide feedback on what we need to work on (there were a couple of activities we had no answer for) and motivate the chapter by letting them see that, while we have constant issues we worry about on a daily and weekly basis, our overall performance and direction is pretty terrific.
The Five Star Standards is a program used by many universities to conduct self-evaluations of its organizations. The sections include Personal Development, Professional Development, Leadership Development, Community, Communiversity, Cultural Development & Electronic Media and the Arts, and Individual Awards.
Here’s a link to Delta Psi’s application – 2015 Five Star
Sigma Chi Fraternity 